Paint Bard Posted February 8, 2025 Posted February 8, 2025 So Rashek goes to the well, takes all of Ruins investiture, and is able to reshape the planet. He is not a Vessel, but he “ascends” if that is so, how does he have such great knowledge and power, just like a Vessel gets when gaining the shard? And if Ba Ado Mishram took the power of odium at his well, why didn’t she ascend and have such great power? What about Dalinar?
Treamayne Posted February 8, 2025 Posted February 8, 2025 Please edit your post to spoiler tag the SA5 spoilers. Keep in mind that Spoiler Policy requires new release material to be posted only in the Spoiler Zone. Spoiler tagging information outside of Spoiler Zone is required when Spoiler information must be used in a non-spoiler forum. 32 minutes ago, Paint Bard said: So Rashek goes to the well, takes all of Ruins investiture, and is able to reshape the planet. He is not a Vessel, but he “ascends” If that is so, how does he have such great knowledge and power, just like a Vessel gets when gaining the shard? WaT Spoilers Spoiler And if Ba Ado Mishram took the power of odium at his well, why didn’t she ascend and have such great power? What about Dalinar? Raskek essentially became an Avatar because Preservation created the Well in a specific way to allow a Person to access a significant portion of the Shard's power, but only for a very limited time in order to maintain Ruin's prison. It was not Ruin's investiture that Rashek accesses in the Well (you can see that in WoA Ch 58 when they pass through Ruin's collected Black Mist in the chamber before the Well). Avatars may or may not have Vessels (such as Telsin and Patji) - so by the way that Leras designed the Well to function, Rashek Ascended as an Avatar, used the power, then became a Splinter (a mortal being with permanent Spiritweb changes due to previously acting as a Vessel for Shardic power). As you see with Kelsier, Vin and Sazed, taking up the power comes with some measure of knowledge and understanding (but only if the person knows to ask the questions). Spoiler WoA Ch 58: Quote I am involved in something that is far over my head, Elend thought as they passed through the strange, smoke-filled cavern. The floor was rough and uneven, and his lantern seemed dim—as if the swirling black smoke were sucking in the light. Vin walked confidently. No, determinedly. There was a difference. Whatever was at the end of this cavern, she obviously wanted to discover it. <snip> They finally approached the other side of the smoky cavern. Here, there appeared to be a final chamber, one much smaller than the first two. WaT Spoilers: Spoiler 1 hour ago, Paint Bard said: And if Ba Ado Mishram took the power of odium at his well, why didn’t she ascend and have such great power? What about Dalinar? We don't have enough information on how much or how BAM or Ishar were able to take from teh well, but the situation is inherently different because Odium's well was not designed to function the way Leras created Preservation's Well to act as a prison. They would not have been able to take enough investiture to become Avatars because Odium would never allow that much to collect in one place, or make himself vulnerable by making that much power accessible. Dalinar did Ascend as Honor, when he took up that power, so his situation is closer to Vin's at the end of HoA. Hope that helps
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